Putin hosts Armenian, Azeri presidents to reduce tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh

With violence raging next door in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan come together to begin negotiations to defuse tensions in the ethnically Armenian, breakaway Azeri region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bloomberg reports that Putin brought Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev together for two days of meetings over the weekend of August 9. The meetings took place at Putin's private retreat in the Russian city of Sochi.

The presidents of both countries last met in November 2013 for the first time in two years, according to Bloomberg.

The meetings in Sochi continued even as tensions in the region did not abate. An Azeri soldier was killed during the talks. Since July 26, when tensions in the area exploded into violence, 24 people have been killed.

Putin said that peace can only be achieved through patience and good will on behalf of both the Armenians and the Azeris.

Russia is specially positioned to influence events in both countries, as they were both a part of the Soviet Union. That Russian influence has been sustained by trade and the presence of a Russian military base in Armenia.

One reason for the meeting may be to keep Russia's hand free for a military intervention in Ukraine, which NATO said seemed increasingly likely. Bloomberg notes that Russia has treaty obligations to protect Armenia in the case of military conflict.

Although no concrete gains and plans to reduce tensions were made, both Armenia and Azerbaijan promised to continue with future negotiations. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the meetings as, "useful."

The recent violence is the most pronounced since a 1994 ceasefire put an end to hostilities that claimed 30,000 lives.

Along with peace, new violence threatens a $45 billion dollar pipeline project that was recently agreed upon by a consortium of international investors led by BP, according to Bloomberg.